Before you guys burn me at the stake.. allow me to explain
I bought my RA about 16 months ago and I've enjoyed every moment of it. The things I enjoy about it:

-Childishly large rear wing and the aggressive front.
-Turns heads. Every weekend when I go out of the city, I have people looking or asking me questions.
-Fold down rear seats. (For my bike/snowboard/transporting floor lamps)
-Relatively good gas mileage.
-Really good feed back from the steering wheel, not overly light and numb like most cars.
-In manual mode, the transmission is one of the fastest I've ever used. And in auto, it seems to read my mind.
-The EVO IX AWD system is hands down one of the best AWD systems out there.

Now.. the bad..

-Crappy dealer support compared to some of the luxury brands.
-Requires lots of fluid changes, and often.
--Transfer case.
--Active center differential.
--Dual clutch transmission, questionable reliability. (As an engineer, I don't trust the first version of anything).
--Oil every 3000 because the turbo tends to beat up oil a lot more.
-Noisy.
-Cheap interior.
-Childishly large rear wing and the aggressive front.
-Turns heads. Every weekend when I go out of the city, I have cops looking as I drive by.
-Thin paint (not really a problem.. for now).
-No memory seating. (Large height differential between me and the wife)

So I've been thinking about putting a little more money in and getting a preowned 09 Mercedes c300 4matic <10k mi. It'll barely be broken in. Here's what I think I'm gonna be giving up:

-Less power and torque.
-Probably a more refined but lethargic ride.
-Lighter, less precise steering.
-Worse AWD system (which I probably won't notice 99% of the time).
-Slower transmission.

Here's what I think I'll gain:

-Great dealer support. Instead of getting a 10 year old hyundai with leaky brakes as a loaner (if I even get one), I'll usually end up with another C300.
-More understated and mature look.
-Sunroof (I know, not a big deal).
-A lot quieter.
-Lot less maintainence. Oil change is every 10k and 1 transmission fluid change at 40. Otherwise, I don't remember seeing anything else major in the maintainence log.
-More reliable transmission design.

After its all over, the difference in price between finishing up payments on the Ralliart or restarting financing with the Merc is ~$10k. I can overlook this since it'll be over 5 yrs anyway.

Anyone think I should pull the trigger or stick with the RA? I'm looking for the thing to last about 5-6 years (~120k miles). I do mostly 75% highway driving with a lot of canyon carving in between, tarmac in summer and snow in winter.

If I didn't hear so many horror stories about the transmission or if it can somehow be serviced, I'd feel a lot better...

The wrench in the equation is that the wifey has preapproved getting a P-car as our next car if I can cough up the down payment, which the 10g's saved now would help with.

Thanks for reading, I know I can be a bit verbose at times.

 

You can justify any decision...

But you are upside down in the RA and it will cost money to get out.

MB dealerships are beautiful! Have a cup of comp coffee as Fritz comes out and introduces himself. 'I vill verking on zee car unt dis is vat i vill be do-ink....'

But then bill comes. It was not free coffee after all. :O

(my brother was CFO of a dealership group and when he could not get my car into the dodge dealership service bay he had the MB guys work on it (just tires mounted) My bill was free. I love my little brother ).

The MB gets write ups and is a very nice car. But of course to keep the numbers correct (unless you suddenly have more money ) is relatively high mileage MB. Probably out of warranty and service is NOT cheap (see above).

Consider a Pacifica. It has the MB chassis and MB drivetrain with AWD. Pretty cheap used. Rides well.

But i would have to really hate the RA to get over the upside down (money peezzed away)...

My $.02 worth.

 

I just say do what feels right to you. If you are comfortablr with your new payments go for it.

Have you thought about the BMW 335i twin turbo? From everything i have read or watched on it, it gets really good reviews.

 

Well the RA is not upside down cause I put more money down (blue book is something like 4-5 grand over what I owe). Even if the dealer gives me a mid range value from the black book, i'll either break even or have a couple bucks extra.

The RA right now has 24,000mi. All the Merc's I've been looking at are mostly 9,000 mi units from 2009 so I'll have 4 yrs of warranty + 1 extra year of CPO.

As far as the Pacifica is concerned...

*SHUDDER*

 

+1 he's right.

 

You are talking about two different types of cars. What is really important to you? If the sound is the issue then put some sound deadening in. (Noxudol 3101). If precise handling, HP, and TQ are big on the list then I would certainly reconsider. I would do some research on oil and the real truth about it. I would never wait 10,000 miles before my first oil change. Regardless of what the "book" said. When that warranty runs out on the MB look out for very expensive service repairs. Also check reliability on those cars. Talk with people that currently own them. I do like MB cars but the c300 is not enough performance for me. Maybe you can live with it but I couldn't go backwards now. The TC-SST are serviceable but not thru a dealer. Besides all of that, why would you willingly cough up 10K? Granted cars are not investments but now your just throwing more money away if you sell it too soon. Not what I would do.

 

MB are the most tested cars on the road, extreme cold and extreme heat, but I disagree with you a bit. You can change the ralliart to your liking. IMHO instead of coughing up 10k for a MB you can take less then half of that and put it in the RA. Brake rotors, brake lines and pads( +- 700$ ) , rear swaybar(250$), Eibach pro-kit(260$) and Noxudol 3101 (??$) GST basemap ( Free!! ) right there you saved A LOT of $$ and you have a totally different car.

 

i read a lot of horrible stories about the TC-SST but imao all cars breaks it really depends how you drive/use it... if you are worried about fluids in RA it is given coz its AWD with front, center and rear diff. and turbocharged IC About the service issue in the dealership you can go to other mitsu dealership if you dont like the service, or make a complain to the manager ....each cars have different category/class RA is definitely not in luxury club its more on street class ...my cousin has lexus IS 350 and whenever are cars are park in the driveway the RA gets more praise and attention .... but i the end its always you who will decide what car fits you....if you are into luxury go for the merc but keep in mind german/luxury parts are expensive than those japs parts....

 

cost of ownership on a MB is a joke....

I have numerous customers that own them and they loved them when under warranty but what a joke when they are not covered... kinda like BMW but worse...

Much better ideas of cars out there and as pointed out, you can invest $5k into your ralliart and have a 100% different car and you can pay your car note down another $5k!!!

If i was making a switch to a luxury car - lexus ISF for me!!! Used you can buy them for high 30's used and they are AMAZINGLY FUN CARS....

 

+1 i really love ISF..my cuz is drooling for the ISF i must say the isf is the beast.....

 

It's not really about money. As much as I love the ride, I want something I don't have to worry about breaking and if it breaks, I don't want to have to take a cab home 3 times while the dealer tries to sort out the problems. Hell I could get a honda civic but I figure if I could get something that's more hassle free AND luxurious, then all the better.

I love the car but every dealer I've gone to have left me with a really bad feeling.

 

When I ordered this 3rd class trip I didn't get 1st class?! Wtf

 

Now you're exaggerating. The RA is not a 3rd class product. If anything, I'd say it's pretty up there in 1st class if you look at performance. I have no problem with the basic interior. Hell I didn't even want automatic climate control. I'm trying to objectively weigh the long term benefits of each side.

 

Well it's not just MB. I looked at BMW, Audi, Lexus, and Acura too. It seemed that they were all pretty equivalent. None were as sporty as the RA but I never drive the car to 10/10ths anyway. While the basic cars from each are within my price range, the ISF isn't (most around here are 45-50). At that price, I would seriously be looking into the new S4.

 

??

I've heard of a few people working on putting new parts on the thing but I didn't think those were public yet. Are they able to actually service it or are they only adding stronger parts, like clutch plates, etc, onto a currently working transmission?